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Happy puzzle day! Today's edition is a bit macabre, and has nothing to do with baseball, but I hope you'll enjoy it nonetheless.
Read the following verse carefully and fill in the blank with the proper number of diseased sailors (including the last two who didn't immediately die):
Not well-versed in the high seas,
The ____ sailors caught disease.
Rotten mutton made them ill,
Benign it looked but looks can kill.
They ate and when their feast was through,
'twas heaven taking all but two;
Two sick survivors lost at sea,
If I've seen worse, I lie to thee.
Will fortune save their aimless boat?
Both reaffirm their faith and hope;
Their tombstones nonetheless will say,
"They won our hearts but lost their way."
Hint #1 (7:56am): The puzzle was inspired in part by the Plain White T's.
Hint #2 (10:03am): It might help to recite the verses to a friend (or to yourself).
Note (not really a hint, but sort of I guess) (11:49am): Getting the correct-syllabled number to fit the meter of the poem is not the methodology (such a methodology would not result in a definitive answer anyhow, as there are countless numbers each with a given number of syllables. And the meter on these puzzle-poems is never perfectly correct...).
Solution: click here.
Puzzle Rules: Comment freely in the thread, but if you have the solution, please don't give it away to everyone in the comments section. Instead, do the following:
- Email us with the correct number along with your reasoning. Submitted answer without the reasoning, or those submitted with the incorrect reasoning, will count for participation only, even if the number itself is correct. And please include your screen name somewhere in the email; and
- Post a comment simply saying you have emailed your solution attempt. I may not be able to reply to your original email promptly, so please be patient and check back on the comment thread for the latest news; I may confirm correct answers there.
You have until midnight PT tonight to submit your answer. Answer will be posted tomorrow morning. Good luck!
Not familiar with SoSG's off-day puzzle competition? Read up here. And join the fun!


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Ian Stepp remembers visiting his aunt's house as a kid, where he'd play classic games like Duck Hunt and iterations of the Mario Brothers saga on the family's trusty old Nintendo Entertainment System. Now pushing 30, Stepp is still a fan of the now-classic video games that in recent years have spawned a thriving culture and industry capitalizing on the nostalgia of grownups who coveted Nintendo game systems as kids in the 1980s and 90s.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Lightweight and durable polyester upper
Single main compartment with zipper closure
Single front pocket with zipper closure
Dual adjustable shoulder straps
Ideal for everyday use in schools, office and even outdoor activities
MOON Offers world class products with outstanding prices.
Our aim is to offer our products to customers with the best deals and prices with world class qualities and brands.
You will get only original's on this website with best prices for its own kind.
Company StrategyPurpose: To be a leader in Retail Shopping & Retail industry by providing enhanced services, relationship and profitability online.
Scope of Work
Moon factory outlet conducts Shopping & Retail business of International high standard brands.
The company undertakes all procedures from taking the order from the client until delivering it to his doors as rapidly and safely as possible.
This website is owned and managed by: Happy Journey General Trading Co L.L.C
Q:How many days does it take for order delivery within the UAE?
It takes 2 - 3 business days
Q:Do you deliver products outside the UAE?
No. Currently we do not deliver outside the UAE.
Q:Do you delivery anywhere in UAE?
Yes we do.
Q:What are the Payment Options available for placing an order?
Debit Card/Credit Card Payment.
Cash on Delivery
Q:How do I know that you have received my order?
We'll drop you a confirmation Email or SMS as soon as we receive an order. We'll also give you a call to confirm your order.
Q:What if my stuff is different from what I ordered when it arrives?
What if my order is delivered wrong?
Hopefully this won't happen! We always carry out quality checks and ensure your products are carefully packed and delivered to you in perfect condition. Just in case your stuff arrives damaged, do not worry, email us with your order ID and we'll be happy to replace the item as soon as possible.
Q:Is there a minimum online spend?
Nope, spend as little or as much as you like.
Q:If I order more than one product, will they all be delivered together?
Yes, all your products will be delivered together.
Q:Do I get a receipt for my online order?
Yes, as soon as your order is submitted and confirmed we will send you an email/SMS confirmation, you'll also get a printed copy when your order is delivered.
Q:What is the cancelation policy for orders placed on the website?
You may cancel by emailing us email@example.com order until before the order has been dispatched.
Cancelations after dispatching the order is not possible. However, you may choose to return the product based on our hassle free Return Policy but you going to pay for the delivery charges.
Q:What happens if I am not home to accept the order delivery?
Our courier partner will contact you on the mobile number you had given at the time of placing the order.
You may suggest an alternate schedule for receiving your order. However, after 1 unsuccessful attempts to contact will result in auto cancellation of your order and amount refunded to your account (if already paid).
Q:Can I change my delivery address after placing the order?
No. You cannot change the delivery address after an order has been placed. However, you may cancel and re-initiate a new order with the updated delivery information.
We strongly recommend you to keep your contact information updated at all times.
Q:Is the payment made on Moon safe and secure?
We adhere to the highest standards of payment security. Our Payment Gateway is 3D secured and is Visa verified and MasterCard secured. Your credit card details are not stored on our website.
We accept all internationally accepted visa/master debit/credit card.


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Subject to credit approval.
Pay in 4
$41.99 divided into 4 interest-free payments of $10.4975 every 2 weeks, with no late fees and no impact to your credit score. Down payment due today.
Check out securely with PayPal and choose Pay Later
About Pay in 4
- Pay in 4 is available to consumers upon approval for purchases of $30-$1,500.
- Pay in 4 is not currently available to residents of New Mexico, North Dakota, Missouri, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Nevada, Rhode Island, or any U.S. Territories. Offer availability depends on the merchant and also may not be available for certain recurring, subscription services.
- When applying, a soft credit check may be needed, but will not affect your credit score.
- You must be of legal age in your U.S. state of residence to use Pay in 4.
- Loans to California residents are made or arranged pursuant to a California Finance Lenders Law license.
- PayPal, Inc. is a Georgia Installment Lender Licensee, NMLS #910457.


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General Electric, Citigroup Tax Break Intact After Fiscal Cliff Deal
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- General Electric,(NYSE:GE),Citigroup(NYSE:C), and other giant U.S. multinational financial companies are breathing a sigh of relief after Congress extended a key tax break though 2013 following the resolution of the Congressional budget battle that was resolved late Tuesday.
Known as the "active financing exception," the provision allows U.S. financial multinationals to avoid paying taxes on interest income earned by foreign subsidiaries unless the income is repatriated into the U.S.
General Electric and Citigroup are among the top beneficiaries of the tax deal, since they are among the more active overseas lenders among U.S. companies. The provision saved GE about $3 billion in taxes in 2011, and it saved Citigroup about $1 billion each in 2010 and 2011.
The provision by itself should allow GE, Citigroup and other companies to keep their tax rate well below the statutory rate of 35 percent, according to corporate tax consultant Robert Willens, head of Robert Willens LLC.
A Citigroup spokeswoman declined to comment on the extension of the loophole. A General Electric spokesman declined to comment.
"This is a load off the shoulders of multinational financial organizations, particularly GE, since it gives rise to a substantial reduction in these companies effective tax rates," Willens says.
Though Congress repealed the active financing loophole in 1986, it was reinstated "temporarily" in 1997, and has been regularly extended since that time, according to Wayne State University Linda Beale writing in her blog, ataxingmatter. It had not been extended for 2012, pending resolution of the budget battle ahead of the impending "fiscal cliff" of automatic wide-ranging spending cuts and tax hikes. The active financing exception was one of several tax breaks that have been regularly extended by Congress in recent years as part of a package known in tax circles "the extenders."
Also receiving Congressional approval late Tuesday was the extension of a research tax credit, granted to companies that increase spending on research above a certain base level. The credit allowed Caterpillar Inc.(NYSE:CAT) , to cut its tax bill by 2.3%, or $152 million in 2011. Other beneficiaries were Pfizer(NYSE:PFE), which saved $127 million, or one percent of its 2011 pre-tax income, and Amazon.com Inc.(NYSE:AMZN), which saved 3.2%, or nearly $30 million.
Another corporate tax break extension consists of a 50 percent "bonus" depreciation rules for "qualified property." This allows companies to accelerate write-offs for depreciation of new equipment, a benefit that has been in place since 2008.
Also notable is an extension that enables small businesses to write off up to $500,000 in tangible personal property used actively for business purposes. Willens believes this credit will be a boon to the capital goods industry as it will encourage companies to accelerate purchases to benefit from the write-off.
-- Written by Dan Freed in New York.


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JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon gets big pay cut
NEW YORK - America's best-known banker is getting a big pay cut.
JPMorgan Chase said Wednesday that it will dock the pay of CEO Jamie Dimon by more than half, to $11.5 million from $23 million.
It's the latest fallout from an embarrassing trading loss at the bank last year, one that eventually ballooned to $6 billion. Its ripple effects have already been numerous, forcing Dimon to appear contritely before Congress and putting the bank squarely in the cross hairs of regulators and lawmakers.
The pay cut didn't come as a surprise on Wall Street. What set it apart was that it amounted to a reprimand from the bank against a CEO who remains popular and well regarded, despite the stain of a trading loss that Dimon once dismissed as a "tempest in a teapot."
And even as it cuts his pay, the board of directors praised Dimon for responding "forcefully" to the trading loss, presiding over an overhaul of the bank's risk management and booting out responsible executives. A report from a bank task force placed most of the blame on other executives and traders who have since left.
Compensation consultant James F. Reda was underwhelmed. He called Dimon's pay cut "ceremonial," a way for the bank to show that it is paying penance.
"He doesn't need the money," Reda said. "He was probably very proactive in accepting this to keep people off his back. To get punished, if you will, so he can then point to that and say, 'Look, I was punished. Isn't that enough? Leave me alone. Let me run my business.'"
Dimon's job was never seriously in danger, even with the trading loss, and the pay cut hasn't changed that perception. Wall Street saw it less as an indictment of Dimon and more as a sign of the board's commitment to taking the trading loss seriously.
"It's bitter medicine, but he swallowed it and is moving on," said James Post, an expert on corporate governance who teaches at Boston University. "I think that still leaves him in a very strong leadership position in both the bank and the industry."
JPMorgan, and Dimon, are essential players in U.S. banking. JPMorgan emerged from the financial crisis as one of the strongest banks in the country, a winner in a meltdown that forced other banks to their knees. Its blockbuster fourth-quarter earnings, which were released Wednesday, will almost certainly cement it as the most profitable U.S. bank of 2012.
Such accomplishments have made Dimon one of the best known, and most outspoken, bank leaders of his generation, even in a time of heightened scrutiny and public anger against the industry.
While some of his peers have tried to stay under the radar, he has spoken out against many new regulations - including some, the bank's critics say, that could have prevented the trading loss.
Dimon has publicly chafed at criticism of banking's big pay packages, including President Barack Obama's famous "fat-cat bankers" comment. "Acting like everyone who's been successful is bad and because you are rich, you are bad - I don't understand it, I don't get it," he told an investment conference.
On calls with reporters and analysts Wednesday, he was his usual swashbuckling self, intensely proud of the bank he runs and sometimes impatient with critical questions.
He said the portfolio where the troubled bets were made is "very close to being a non-issue" as far as trading losses are concerned. Asked for thoughts on his pay cut, Dimon said he respected the board's decision. Pressed for his "gut feeling," he replied, "Nope, you're not gonna get it."
When analyst Guy Moszkowski asked about the "exotic investment strategies" of the Chief Investment Office, where the loss occurred, he shot back, "It has got not a damned thing to do with exotic investment strategies - zero, nada, nothing. OK?"
For 2012, Dimon will get $1.5 million in salary and $10 million in restricted stock awards. It likely means that he'll no longer be the highest-paid CEO among the country's six mega-banks.
Even with the pay cut, and even by the lofty standards of big-time CEOs, the 56-year-old Dimon will still be well paid. The median pay for CEOs of S&P 500 companies for 2011 was $9.6 million, according to the latest data from executive compensation firm Equilar.
Though Dimon made clear that he is eager to put the so-called London whale loss behind him, there could be more reminders in store.
The bank has said it received requests for information related to government inquiries and investigations by Congress, the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the U.K. Financial Services Authority, the state of Massachusetts and others.
On Monday, the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, both bank regulators, slapped sanctions on JPMorgan for the trading loss and ordered it to tighten up its risk management procedures. The bank neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing, but said it was working to correct any issues identified by the regulators.
The bank released two reports Wednesday on the loss, one from bank executives and the other from the board of directors. These said that traders and executives in the Chief Investment Office didn't understand the risks they were taking, didn't adequately question risky decisions and didn't properly report ballooning losses.
The board of directors said executives didn't keep them adequately informed about potential problems and used unapproved models for calculating risk.
Despite the fallout from the trading loss, JPMorgan turned in a strong fourth quarter. Earnings shot up 55 percent over the same period a year ago to $5.3 billion after paying preferred dividends, up from $3.4 billion.
Per share, those earnings amounted to $1.40, blowing away the $1.16 expected by analysts polled by financial data provider FactSet. The bank's stock rose 47 cents to $46.82, up 1 percent.
Revenue also beat Wall Street's forecasts, rising 10 percent to $24.4 billion, after stripping out an accounting charge. Mortgage originations jumped 33 percent.
Dimon said the housing market "has turned," echoing a statement he made in October after the third-quarter earnings report.
AP Business Writer Steve Rothwell contributed to this report.


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SAN FRANCISCO - When Randy Adams, 60, was looking for a chief-executive officer job in Silicon Valley last year, he got turned down from position after position that he thought he was going to nail — only to see much younger, less-experienced men win out.
Finally, before heading into his next interview, he shaved off his gray hair and traded in his loafers for a pair of Converse sneakers. The board hired him.
"I don't think I would have been able to get this CEO job if I hadn't shaved my head," says Adams, who has founded eight venture-backed companies. He is now chairman of the company that hired him, mobile conference-call service Socialdial, and is fundraising for a new business. Adams has supplemented his makeover by trading in his button-down shirts for T-shirts, making sure he owns the latest gadgets, and getting an eyelid lift.
Such are the pressures in Silicon Valley, where the startup ethos extols fresh ideas and young programmers willing to toil through the night. Chief executives in their 20s, led by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, are lionized, in part because of their youth. Many investors state bluntly that they prefer to see people under 40 in charge.
Yet the youth worship undercuts another of Silicon Valley's cherished ideals: that anyone smart and driven can get ahead in what the industry likes to think of as an egalitarian culture. To many, it looks like simple age discrimination -- and it's affecting people who wouldn't fit any normal definition of old.
"I don't think in the outside world, outside tech, anyone in their 40s would think age discrimination was happening to them," says Cliff Palefsky, a San Francisco employment attorney who has fielded age-discrimination inquiries from people in their early 40s. But they feel it in the Bay Area, he said, and it's "100 percent due to the new, young, tech startup mindset."
Regional data on age discrimination are hard to come by, making it hard to establish precisely how Silicon Valley stacks up against other parts of the United States.
Of the 18,335 employment cases filed in 2010 with California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing, one-fifth cited age. That puts age below retaliation as a discrimination claim, but above racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual orientation.
Nationally, retaliation is also the most frequently cited discrimination claim, according to the federal Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. But age comes much lower down on the national list, below race, sex, and disability.
The federal agency says age is cited in 26 percent of total complaints in California, compared to 22 percent in New York and 21 percent in Texas. Among large states, Illinois had the highest ratio of age-related complaints, at 37 percent.
Wunderkind wanted
Some technology recruiters say unequivocally they see bias at work. Marta Fuentealba, a principal at startup specialist Talent Farm, says she's encountered it many times.
She recalls a meeting at a software company a few years ago, when the human-resources executive told her he would like to find somebody "around age 26 or so" to fill a job. An age requirement along those lines would violate both state and federal laws on discrimination, California labor lawyers say.
"You mean, somebody less jaded?" Fuentealba recalls asking, hoping to jolt the executive back into legal territory. "And he said, 'No, I mean somebody young, probably no older than 26.'" Back at the office, she sent the executive resumes from a variety of candidates.
Jeff Spirer, a 61-year-old technology marketing and strategy veteran, landed a new job in October after a stint doing part-time consulting. It was a tough search. He recalls the followup after a long phone interview at a small online-surveys company last year.
The hiring manager asked Spirer to come in for an interview with the chief executive, who was in his 20s. When Spirer walked into the room, the CEO looked at him, said something had come up unexpectedly, and left.
The interview never got rescheduled, and a younger candidate eventually got the job. Spirer cannot say for sure, but he thinks the CEO was taken aback to see somebody with wrinkles. "What other conclusion can I draw?" asks Spirer.
Age discrimination is notoriously difficult to prove. Lawyers say they typically do not have smoking guns such as emails saying the candidate or employee is too old, and need to be able to show through other methods such as statistics that the company is making employment decisions based on age.
In some cases, there are reasons other than bias for preferring younger workers in a startup setting. People with young children can be strapped for time and less able to work long, late hours. Younger workers are more likely to be expert in the newest software programming protocols. Young entrepreneurs, like many others, often move instinctively in hiring from the cohort of those they know.
Yet there are some indications that age bias is now part of the culture in Silicon Valley -- especially visible in what Adams of Socialdial calls the "cachet of the young entrepreneur."
When young executives like Zuckerberg are successful, their age often gets a lot of attention. Successful older entrepreneurs, on the other hand, take pride in every aspect of their accomplishments -- except their age.
When the software company Workday went public last month and raised $637 million, little attention was paid to the fact that co-founder and co-CEO David Duffield is 72.
Sandy Kurtzig founded Ask Computer Systems and its manufacturing software program, Manman, and saw the company through a stock-market listing in 1981. Now, she has raised $10.5 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and others for her new software company, Kenandy. She says she is in her 60s and leaves it at that, explaining, "I don't want to advertise it."
'Enthusiastic fan'
Investors, in contrast to employers, are not subject to discrimination laws when deciding whom to fund. And they are among the most outspoken in declaring their age preferences.
"I am just an incredibly enthusiastic fan of very talented 20-somethings starting companies," Sequoia Capital's Mike Moritz, 58 years old and a top VC, once said at a conference, echoing similar comments he has made over the years. "They have great passion. They don't have distractions like families and children and other things that get in the way of business." He was 49 at the time.
"Unfortunately, I don't think the quote you have selected is very representative of what I think," Moritz said in an email. He declined to elaborate.
Khosla Ventures' Vinod Khosla, 57, told conference goers last year that "people over 45 basically die in terms of new ideas."
Khosla says the line came in the context of a talk where he was discussing the fear many older people have of failure, contrasted with many younger people's experimental bent. "I was encouraging people to try new things that go against conventional wisdom," he says.
Khosla Ventures invests in several companies with over-45 leaders, including Nu-Tek Salt LLC and its CEO, Tom Manuel.
Some venture capitalists extend their appreciation of youth to their own partnerships. In June, Benchmark Capital's Peter Fenton, 40, told a group of journalists that Benchmark strives to keep the average age of its most-active partners under 40 to better relate to young entrepreneurs.
Fenton says he is not ageist, arguing that there is a well-documented relationship between youth and creativity. As for partners such as himself who hit 40, "we have a discipline to try and stay young," he says. "Young at mind."
Mark Zuckerberg himself once told a class at startup-funding firm Y Combinator that hiring only young people with technical expertise was the best way to found a successful company. "Young people are just smarter," he said. Zuckerberg was 22 at the time. Through a spokeswoman, he declined to comment.
Yet there is little evidence to support the idea that young people are intrinsically more likely to thrive as entrepreneurs.
Fluid intelligence, which allows people to think logically and solve problems, does deteriorate with age, behavioral scientists say. But another type of intelligence known as crystallized intelligence, the ability to tap into experience and amassed knowledge, improves somewhat until about age 65.
The conventional wisdom about young people being more focused on work is itself a stereotype, older executives say.
Tired old myths
"I have more time than a 35-year-old with a newborn," says Spirer, the marketing veteran. "And I'm more available. Judgments are made on age-related stuff without thinking it through."
Laurie McCann, an attorney with retiree lobby AARP, says the technology sector's obsession with fresh ideas and long hours leads people to fall back on easy assumptions about age.
"That older people can't work that fast," she says. "That they can't think on their feet in order to come up with the ideas." Further assumptions include inability to change on the part of older employees, or to get along with younger people.
Other fields, such as law, education or healthcare, also value creativity and hard work, she says, but less so than a track record. "Any field where experience is valued, I think you're going to find less instance of discrimination," she says.
Silicon Valley veterans try to adapt as best they can. Adams of Socialdial ticks off a list of faux pas that he believes peg older jobseekers as outsiders. "You can't have an AOL email," he says. "That's horrible. A Gmail address is okay. What's really cool is an email with your name on it," as part of the domain.
In person, older job applicants should carry a backpack, not a briefcase, he says. Avoid Blackberries and Dell laptops in favor of Android phones and Apple products. And above all, steer clear of wristwatches, which most younger people have replaced with the clocks on their phones. "The worst would be a gold Rolex," he says. "Tacky, and old."
Some recommend dressing young. For her first interview at Facebook, 40-something market researcher Sally Sadosky headed to a boutique popular with women 20 years her junior for advice on "something to look hip" and "blend in."
She ditched her tailored pants and blouses for a dress, tights, and biker boots. She then got second and third interviews and had to come up with more hipster outfits. "I was beginning to sweat," she recalls. She eventually got the position.
Adams recommends getting rid of gray hair, either through dyes or through shaving, as he did. He also believes in treating wrinkles or other skin-related signs of age. A few years ago, he underwent an eyelid lift to reduce sagging above his eyes.
The cosmetic surgery route seems increasingly common among the men of Silicon Valley. Roy Hong, chairman of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation's plastic surgery department, says men represented 14 percent of his customers last year, up from 9 percent a decade ago.
Still, the scalpel is where some draw the line. Spirer complains that his friend Adams, buoyed by eye-surgery success, is hounding him to undergo a similar procedure for a more youthful image and enhanced job prospects.
No go. "I'm Jewish," Spirer says. "I've had bags under my eyes since I was 25."


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Lost in Suburbia: Snug as a bug in the bathroom
When you get up in the middle of the night and go to the bathroom, you expect to find a toilet and hopefully some toilet paper.
What you do not expect to find is a spider the size of your fist in the sink.
OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. It was probably the size of a large meatball - a meatball the size of Texas!
Even so, a meatball-sized spider clearly belongs in the rainforest or the desert or a Harry Potter movie - not in a suburban bathroom.
Yet there it was, hanging out in my sink like it had as much right to be there as the tube of toothpaste next to it.
Typically when I discover something prehistoric with six legs or more living in our house, I handle it with about as much composure as one can when they are screaming their head off like a little girl.
The good news was, this time I wasn't the person who went to the bathroom in the middle of the night and discovered Spiderzilla in the sink.
This time it was my husband.
And seriously, who knew my husband could scream like a girl?
I was actually surprised because my husband is kind of like the Bug Whisperer when it comes to wildlife. He is the first guy to run into the house and drag us outside to see a cool spiderweb. He gets up close to bumblebees to watch them pollinate flowers and he picks up cicada shells to explain molting to the kids. He is my go-to guy when there is something inhabiting our house that clearly does not belong there, such as mice, crickets and sometimes, our children. With all this in mind, it was shocking to wake up from a sound sleep to hear my husband shriek "Holy cow," run out of the bathroom, and slam the door behind him.
"Wassa matter?" I asked groggily.
"There is a wolf spider in the sink," he stammered breathlessly.
"So get rid of it," I murmured. He was The Bug Guy. I didn't see the problem.
"I can't," he said. "It's HUGE. It's got, like, 10 eyes!"
I sat up in bed and looked from my husband to the bathroom door. Then I looked at the space between the bottom of the bathroom door and the floor. Was it big enough to allow a monster spider to slip through and devour our family? I was pretty sure it was.
I jumped up and pushed my husband toward the bathroom.
"It is your duty as the patriarch of this family to safeguard us against all threats: animal, mineral and giant man-eating spider. Be a man and go do your job!" Then I jumped back into bed and pulled the covers over my head. The spider could eat my husband and the kids first. By then he would probably be too full to ingest me.
My husband stared uncertainly at the bathroom and then, squared his shoulders and marched purposefully toward the door. As he entered the bathroom, I peered out from under the covers. Suddenly, he came bursting out of the bathroom with a large wad of toilet paper in his hands.
"What are you doing?" I shrieked.
"I'm taking the spider outside," he replied.
"Just flush it," I responded.
"No. I can't kill it," he said. "I'm going to set it free."
The Bug Whisperer ran down the stairs, opened the front door, and disappeared into the night to release the monster spider back into the wild. At first I was relieved to know Spiderzilla was out of the house. But then I wondered how my husband would be able to tell, in the dark, if the spider actually disembarked from the wad of toilet paper, or would climb up his arm and hitch a ride back into the house.
Climbing out of bed, I went downstairs and peered out the door window to where my husband was shaking out the toilet paper.
"What a good man," I thought. "Such a great husband and father."
Then, with hardly a second thought, I locked the door.
To become a fan of Lost in Suburbia on Facebook, go to http://www.facebook.com/LostinSuburbiaFanPage.


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Low wage growth in the Eurozone to limit the ECB's upside (Engelstalig)
Eurozone (core) inflation is likely to stay low for longer. This is driven by lower wage growth for an extended period of time and give cyclical and structural explanations. This means the ECB is unlikely to raise interest rates before 2019.